Conservationists call for authorities to give endangered species' safety greater priority during Tasmanian bushfires, but the mayor of an area devastated in October says he cannot see how more can be done.

The world's biggest lithium ion battery is officially launched in South Australia, with the Premier declaring it an example of SA "leading the world", even as, in an ironic twist, some 250,000 lightning strikes leave nearby residents without electricity.

The Queensland Greens say that "[m]ore than 1 million hectares of native bush and forest has been cleared in Queensland over the last four years. Land clearing in Queensland is now on par with Brazil". RMIT ABC Fact Check runs the numbers.

Traditional owners would get just 0.2 per cent of Adani's earnings from the mine, less than half the industry average, new analysis finds, as a fractious dispute between the Indigenous group poses a final legal hurdle for the project.

Western Australia's three State Government-owned water utilities are charging far more for water than it costs them to provide, meaning WA households are paying hundreds of dollars too much every year.

Mike Tyson had a famous saying: "Everyone has a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth." North Korea's pugnacious tyrant, Kim Jong-un, has just punched the world in the mouth… again. And whatever plan the US has, it isn't working, writes Stan Grant.

Environment TV & Videos

Beverley O'Connor talks to Dr Leonid Petrov, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a leading North Korea researcher, about US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's offer to begin talks with North Korea without pre-conditions.